Rachel Reeves’s inheritance tax raid is the “final nail in the coffin” for the agricultural sector, according to Welsh farmer Gareth Wyn Jones.
Speaking to GB News, Wyn Jones spoke about family farms being hit with the tax after the Chancellor unveiled plans to scale back agricultural relief.
The Chancellor outlined her economic plans for Britain on Wednesday, with three major changes affecting inheritance tax.
From April 2026, Reeves unveiled her plans to “reform agricultural and business relief”, sparking backlash from the industry.
Wyn Jones has hit out at Rachel Reeves for implementing new measures for inheritance tax
Parliament TV / GB News
Voicing his concerns on GB News, Gareth Wyn Jones highlighted the impact on family farms and the business being passed down to future generations, claiming that farmers can “no longer afford to die”.
Wyn Jones stated: “It’s the final nail in the agricultural coffin. No farmer can afford to die, that’s the sadness of it now.
“It sounds like a lot, £1million. But this this is our factory floor – the land is really all we’ve got.”
Explaining the true value of family farms, including their farm houses as well as the land the business runs on, Wyn Jones told GB News that the “majority of family farms” are going to sit over the million pound threshold.
The Chancellor delivered the 2024 Budget on Wednesday
PA
Wyn Jones said: “Every farm will have a farmhouse as well, and I would say that the majority of the family farms are all going to be worth more than the million.
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“If they’d have put two or three million, maybe four million on that, that would have been maybe a little bit better. But it’s just ridiculous, and we feel so frustrated.”
Hitting out at the Labour Government, Wyn Jones fumed that the agricultural sector is already “on its knees”, and Reeves has “attacked the working people” with the Budget plans.
Wyn Jones added: “I don’t think farmers are going to sit back and take this, I honestly don’t. We have mental health at its lowest, the agricultural sector is on its knees.
“And then this Labour Government come again and attack us. We’re working people, we pay our taxes. We’ve paid taxes on the land, we pay taxes on everything we do, and then we have to pay taxes when we leave this earth.
Wyn Jones hit out at Labour for ‘attacking the agricultural sector again’
GB News
“It’s ridiculous. And it’s a burden for the next generation. And it’s going to hit family farms absolutely terribly.”
Issuing a warning to family farms, using his own as an example, Wyn Jones noted that future generations of farmers will “feel the burden” of taking on such a tax hike, as well as the responsibility of running the business of the farm.
Wyn Jones concluded: “My father’s 88, never had a passport, never went on holiday, never bought expensive cars. He invested all his money back into the land, hopefully for the next generation to have it.
“We’re custodians of this land, we literally don’t own it, but we are then passing it on to the next generation. But where is that next generation going to come from?
“Do they want that burden when they take that farm over of either going for another big mortgage or selling parts of that land that is producing food which is affordable to the masses. So, again, it’s another nail in the agricultural coffin.”